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Something Strange and Deadly, by Susan Dennard

To sum it up: In an alternate Victorian-era world that has zombies and ghosts, a young woman teams up with some shady characters to track down her missing brother.

This book was so much better than I thought it’d be.

I wasn’t sure about the zombies mixed with the Victorian-era setting, but it worked in an odd way. The Victorian social restrictions on women at the time really made the heroine seem even more brave and independent throughout the story. It all starts when her brother disappears and sends cryptic notes telling her not to come find him because it’s dangerous, and obviously, her main goal in life immediately becomes tracking him down anyway. However, despite this plot trope, the rest of the story is great. The heroine is a main character you can really root for; she’s smart and brave, but can also ask for help when she’s out of her depth instead of rushing forward into disaster like many a brave heroine. There are some legitimately creepy parts to the book but it doesn’t get too gross with all the zombie killing, which I appreciate. The only downside was that I guessed the twist ending before it happened, but that’s a bad habit of mine and not necessarily a failing of the book itself.

Bottomline: A very fun read and worth a try if you enjoy books with an element of the supernatural. There’s history, mystery, action, and romance, and really, what else do you need? Got this book from the LA Library after a short wait, but sped through it in only a few hours and am eagerly awaiting the next installment!